Total Immersion » CoachDunstan

Follow Me on Twitter!

CoachDunstan — Wed, 13 May 2009 00:00:00 +0000

I aim to tweet daily and will post useful links for TI and other stuff.

If you have an account you can follow me here:

http://twitter.com/senseofmovement

Please send any questions for me to answer on this blog by twitter or dunstan@tiswim.com.au – My aim is to blog weekly.

Dunstan

PS – Hyperlinks do not seem to be working so please cut and paste for now. I have asked for some help to resolve this.

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TI Presentation by Timothy Ferris

CoachDunstan — Tue, 12 May 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Tim Ferriss is author of bestseller The 4-Hour Workweek. Love him or hate him you have to admire his tenacity as a learner. I love the way that he sees unexplored areas of human potential as an opportunity for growth. He defines his challenge and then optimises his approach to solving it.

Its also great to see him putting the TI word out there!

Go Here for the Video:

http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2008/12/28/the-incredible-hulk/

PS – Hyperlinks do not seem to be working for me so please cut and paste for now. Apologies and I hope to work out how to fix this soon…

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How Important is Kicking?

CoachDunstan — Mon, 04 May 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Here is a question from David about his son’s kicking.

The answer is from Steve – TI coach in Brisbane and

I have added my comments below…

From: David

Sent: Tuesday, 14 April 2009 9:17 PM
To: Steven van Bodegraven

Here’s a question for the TI master – Just got home after taking my older boy to junior swim squad and noticed that his freestyle kicking was lacking. How important does it contribute to the overall swim, especially with triathlon? Traditionally, I was taught 2, 4 or 6 beat kick (not that I was good at it) – how important is it to do kicking drills and/or kick/swim with fins?

From: Steven van Bodegraven

Sent: Wednesday, 15 April 2009 8:48 AM

Well, from the TI point of view, kicking is important, in particular engaging your entire core when kicking. When swimming TI your arms are not used to pull you through the water – they are used to obtain some momentum (as they are ‘dropped’ into the water) – instead ‘power’ comes from the combination of your legs kicking in time with the roll of your body (and the momentum of your arms) which is all held together by your stomach muscles (or core). TI swimmers will swim with a 2-, or 6-beat kick depending on their level of comfort in the water. The more comfort and the greater balance usually means less kicking. The goal, I think, is to get to a 2-beat kick, especially for distance swimming. If a person is not swimming with a 2-beat kick, and they are swimming using TI, they are generally using the intermittent kicks to balance or they are simply slowly getting out of a bad habit of kicking and pulling to swim.

If your son isn’t kicking much he’ll clearly be developing his upper body more to sustain the distances and speeds he is aiming for. If he isn’t making the distances of obtaining the times he wants it may be because he is tiring sooner as he isn’t swimming with the whole of his body. Look at the size of your arm muscles compared to the size of your stomach (core) and leg muscles. There is a big difference. The smaller arm muscles will tire much sooner.

Kicking with TI develops naturally and isn’t an area we generally need to focus on. The most important point with regard to kicking while swimming TI is to kick or swim with straight legs, not bent at the knees. The timing a person settles on depends on their balance and comfort in the water, which generally develops and improves in time.

Having said that the stronger your leg and core muscles are the more ‘power’ will be obtained so in the least encouraging kicking and developing his leg muscles will both be important wether he is swimming TI or not.

TI does not have specific drills for kicking (I think. If there is, I don’t yet know about them J). Perhaps the biggest change that could be made now is to develop his awareness of how much he is kicking, then increase the amount appropriately through drills and application. Perhaps ask the swim coach for a suitable kicking drill and sets. However, what I then recommend is to perform the drill enough to develop the kick but then take the awareness and feelings from the kicking drill into his swimming, not just revert back to what he was doing.

Make sense?

From: Dunstan Bertschinger

Thanks Steve, for your thoughts on kicking.

I really enjoyed reading that.

For me the key point of difference with TI is that kick and pull

are co-ordinated into one whole body movement.

Some naturally talented swimmers will discover this ‘by accident’

but the TI drills are designed to teach it systematically. The key

factor here is that we teach a streamlined position on each side.

These are then linked with a weight transfer at the hips and

through the whole body. Using a kick board / pull bouy or band

isolates the kick / pull so if these drills are used it is essential to

do some work to re-integrate these movements into a whole

body context.

David if you are interested in finding out more about the TI

approach to the kick and how we teach it I recommend you

use the TI discussion forum via www.totalimmersion.net

Dunstan

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Plan your Perfect Race

CoachDunstan — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 00:00:00 +0000

In Australia the open water swimming season is drawing to a close. The southern states are becoming cooler and there are only a handful of events left on the calendar. Sunday 5th April could be your last chance to post your best swim of the season. Are you hoping for a personal best at the Australian Ironman? … a good day out at Pier to Pub in Hervey Bay? … or perhaps nervous about your first swim in Sydney Harbor at the BRW? Either way I’d like to help you. Here are my top 5 tips for a great swim:

1. Write a Plan!

It could be as simple as a single quality focus or you could have an aim for each set of 10 strokes. Whatever you feel will be most useful. Many things on race day will be beyond your control and that is all part of the experience (the unexpected will provide your best material for post race yarns anyway) but I’m talking about the things you can influence. When you have a plan you cannot fail. It’s just not possible! At each moment you are either doing what you had planned or you decide to do something different. Your plan might run like clockwork or you might modify as you go. Either way your focus will be on something constructive at each point during the race. If you evaluate afterwards you can decide what worked well and refine your plan for next time. I bet you wouldn’t rock up to a race without your togs (hopefully not!) so don’t go without a plan! Point made? OK now on to specifics…

2. Process vs Outcome

Swimming 55 minutes for the 3.8km is an outcome. Swimming more effectively than the person next to you is part of the process. Thinking ‘I really want to swim a PB’ the whole way round the course probably won’t make each stroke as effective as possible. However if you aim to glide 1cm further than the person next to you each stroke you will end up with a faster time. So your plan should be all about process – what you are going to focus on in each moment.

This is where sensory awareness and focal points come into their own. Feeling your body moving through the water, listening to your hand entry, seeing how far you are from the shore or being aware of you breath / emotional state fall into the first category.

Focal points could include ‘traveling along a (straight) laser line’, ‘driving from your hips to send your energy forward’ of ‘feeling your hand parting molecules of water’ (one of Terry’s favorites). I like the sequence: 1.Quiet Exit, 2.Flowing Recovery, 3.Relaxed Forearm, 4.Entry Timing, 5.Hip Squeeze, 6.Glide Long, 7.Hold Water, 8. Swim Past Hand, 9. Rhythm, 10.Enjoy – for 10 strokes each. Its a great way to use 100 strokes in a race!

If you do set a goal time or something else linked to outcome then you can try a range. This is a great way to set yourself up for unconditional success. Try something like: ‘I’d be happy with X, stoked with Y and over the moon with Z.’ My favorite outcome aim is to finish the swim feeling good and knowing that I have used my energy wisely.

3. Where am I Going?

How many laps? … which way around each buoy? … is there a rope alongside? Does the buoy line up with Centrepoint Tower? Does the position of the sun’s glare help? Is there any current? If at all possible try to watch previous heats to see if there is any ‘drift’ and to pick a good spot on the line for your own start. Plan how often you will lift your head to sight and don’t forget to get information by looking to the sides too. Its best to swim with your head in the water rather than out for as much of the time as possible.

4. Negative Split

This is when you swim the second half faster than the first half. Many swimmers go hard off the start, hang in there for the middle part and pick it up at the end. Mostly its a painfest. I like to use the first part to move with easy speed and then settle into a rhythm that feels light not heavy. The warm up and first part of a swim is my chance to establish a good stroke pattern so that when I so squeeze on some effort it will translate to more speed through the water. It feels great to be hitting a sweet rhythm when others around you are fading after their initial spurt. Negative splitting is a great way to go when you aren’t sure of your fitness level. At the half way point you can either maintain the same pace or move up if you’re feeling good. Which leads me onto my final point for tonight…

5. Contingency

Don’t fall into the trap of just planning your ‘dream scenario’. If your ‘best case’ is all you have it is a big gamble. Only one thing needs to ‘go wrong’ and the rest of your plan could be meaningless. You may have planned to score a free ride by drafting a slightly faster swimmer for the first part of the race and end up next to some dude who tries to kick you if you get too close! If there is something you can prepare for then do so. Prepare for the unexpected – if you are ready to be surprised then you will accept the fact that you are feeling panicked / going off course / stuck next to the world’s most aggressive swimmer and do what needs to be done rather than thinking ‘Oh no! I wish this wasn’t happening to me…’ One of my most satisfying swims was the Forster Half Ironman in 2004. I lost my goggles at the start, ended up ‘feeling my way along the course’ and was overjoyed to finish with both contact lenses in place. Nowadays I’m quite happy in the ocean without goggles and / or contact lenses but at the time it was a big achievement. Now you know about that scenario you can prepare for it! Each time something new happens you can deal with it and add it to your repertoire of ‘What to do if…’ situations.

So now its up to you: write it on a bit of paper, share it with your training partner, email it to me and above all try it out! April 5th or any other day… and at the end of the swim…? Whether your next move is 222km of Port Macquarie undulations, A cool beer at the Torquay Hotel or tagging your helmeted team mate by Mrs Maquarie’s Chair makes no difference. Either way I’d like you to stand up feeling great about your swim and ready for whatever is in store.

I’d love to hear about your experiences so email me!

Dunstan

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A TI Path to Recovery: Shoulder Injury

CoachDunstan — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Here is an email from Cheryl, who did a workshop at the start of November.

It seems to be shoulder injury season – perhaps others in similar situation may find this useful.

"Hi Dunstan
Hope you are well.
I was wondering if you might be able to help me.
I had a cycling accident 2.5 weeks ago and landed heavily on my left shoulder.  I haven’t been in the pool for 3 weeks now and my doctor has advised me not to do any freestyle for another 2 weeks.  I validated for Ironman at the Geelong Half Ironman in Feb and have decided that I am still going to do it in just under 4 weeks.  So I was wondering if you could advise me what drills or swimming you think that I could do to regain/keep my swim fitness.

PS I was really happy with my swim time of 40 minutes at Geelong, which is
largely thanks to the 2 day course.  Looking forward to doing a refresher
and maybe even the full course again sometime soon.

Thanks for your help.
Kind regards
Cheryl"

Hi Cheryl.

Well done on your Geelong swim.

Sounds like a nasty bike crash you had.

I fell off 2 weeks ago and broke my collarbone!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/senseofmovement/sets/

Sounds like we both have ambitions to heal well and quickly.

If you can remain positive you can certainly turn this to your

advantage. The key thing is to be super sensitive to your

shoulder and your body sensations… especially PAIN!

Pain is a great indicator when recovering from accident

or injury. It is your body’s way of letting you know what

you should and shouldn’t do. For this purpose I recomend

you use the minimum amount of painkillers that you can.

I managed my pain with homeopathic arnica which supports

the body in healing.

As far as swimming goes I would recommend you use the next

week to consolidate your balance using mainly

>Jellyfish

> Superman

> Skating

> Fish

These will allow you to keep your ‘feel’ for the water and you

can look for the ‘dry hip’ sensation which lets you know you

are balanced. If it hurts your arm to hold it extended you can

just practise on the other side. Looking at your video your

balance was really good at the end so start to feel as though

you are really holding the positions from your core.

Next week you can do some gentle Underswitches (Spearswitch)

with fists to avoid pulling on your shoulder. Do plenty of ‘revving

the engine’ to engage your core. You could also do some basic

pilates to activate that area and build power for when you are

able to use your arms again.

Beyond that you can bring back your recovery with these focii:

1) Really loose arms, hanging from the elbow

2) Enter Wide – wider than you think

3) Drop the arm in under its own weight

4) DO NOT PULL – emphasis on hips sending you forward instead.

ABOVE ALL LISTEN TO YOUR BODY

Allow your pain or discomfort to guide you in your recovery.

I look forward to hearing how it goes.

Dunstan

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‘Go Hard!’ … updated

CoachDunstan — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 00:00:00 +0000

This is a popular racing mantra for triathletes here in Australia. A tribal pre-race acknowledgment and affirmation. Encouragement to ‘give it your all’ out there in the race. And why ever not, I hear you ask? Well the last time I checked I couldn’t find any races where they hand out medals for expending the most energy.

So what is the alternative? It may seem like an insignificant matter of semantics but for me, the ideas we attach our minds to are pretty important as they influence us in subtle ways…

Anyone who understands the basic concepts of TI will know that in swimming harder does not always equate to faster. On a bicycle there is a pretty direct relationship between power output and speed. Output a higher wattage at the cranks and you go faster. It is pretty simple! It is possible to to ride undulating / hilly courses well to optimise momentum but we won’t go into that here…

Water is effectively an energy trap by comparison. It is quite possible for an average skilled swimmer to work twice as hard and go no faster! The vast majority of extra energy input is lost to splash and noise. This is why working HARDER is not enough.

We need to learn to sense our SPEED through the water. That is after all the whole point of what we are trying to achieve with our swimming – shortest time from start to finish. And this really isn’t the same thing as ‘hard work’. Going as FAST as you can on race day is requires a far higher level of skill and concentration thanexhausting yourself 100%.

The best way to learn this is to train side by side with a training partner in open water. Its a bit like an exercise known as ‘2 boat tuning’ in sailing where you use an identical boat as a reference as you adjust you own to squeeze out more speed. The other component of open water racing is of course the tactical one. When Terry and I raced the 2 mile Cable Swim at Lake Placid last August it was the most exciting tactical swim of my life. Neither of us were close to our PBs but I certainly felt as though we pushed each other to the fastest we were capable of on race day.

In each moment while you are racing ask yourself:

a) Can I relax and maintain the same speed?

b) Can I go faster without ‘trying’?

Ultimately can you ‘relax into speed‘? This is a skill that takes practise but for me is one of the most rewarding aspects of racing triathlon. Next time you are swimming, riding or running side by side with a competitor will be your next chance to practise. Look forward to that day!

Here is MY pre race encouragement for all of you:

"Race Well!" and "Go Fast!"

Dunstan

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“Go Hard!”

CoachDunstan — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 00:00:00 +0000

So what is the alternative? It may seem like an insignificant matter of semantics but for me, the ideas we attach our minds to are pretty important as they influence us in subtle ways…

In each moment while you are racing ask yourself:

a) Can I relax and maintain the same speed?

b) Can I go faster without ‘trying’?

Here is MY pre race encouragement for all of you:

"Race Well!" and "Go Fast!"

Dunstan

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TI Tips for Today

CoachDunstan — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +0000

One of the things that never ceases to amaze me about the sport of swimming is the number of different ‘swimming tips’.

Many coaches have their favorites:

"Reach as far as you can each stroke"
"Push right through to the end of the stroke with your triceps"

"Swim with a high elbow recovery"
"Point your toes"

There are undoubtedly thousands of possible ‘tips’ for freestyle alone!

Now lets just think about this for a minute… If you divide the human body up into a great number of parts, each with many possibilities for movement, we can quite easily create an infinite number of variables which need to be taken care of. Sound like a tough task? Well it is!!! If you doing the 4 things above all at the same time you will see what I mean. Please note – I’m not actually suggesting that ANY of these things will necessarily help you – they may or may not but it depends on what you are doing in the first place.

The key is knowing the single most important thing to work on. What is going to make the biggest difference to your stroke? Is it AT ALL important how your hand is pulling through the water if your legs are dragging down and your body is pointing uphill at 45 degrees? Please don’t think I am exaggerating here – this is not an uncommon scenario for new swimmers who go along to stroke correction classes. No matter how well or hard an ‘uphill’ swimmer pulls through the water, it aint gonna make them go real fast.

So what SHOULD you be thinking about while you are drilling and swimming? What is the 20% of your technique where you can make the 80% difference you are looking for? There is of course no simple answer. You actually need to discover these things for yourself! The good news is that Terry Laughlin has literally spent years of his time in the water trying out subtle variations of movement patterns and refining shortcuts to help you to get there more effectively. A TI book or DVD is a valuable tool – especially in the hands of an ambitious learner like Timothy Ferriss !

TI is NOT ‘a collection of swimming tips’ and that is what sets it apart. TI is a a paradigm shift that starts with the question "What is optimal technique?" followed pretty quickly by "How can you learn it?". Once you genuinely engage this pathway it is impossible to go back to mediocre swimming so BE WARNED!

Even within TI there is A LOT of information to navigate. Once you begin to realise how much better your swimming COULD be you are well positioned to begin. Here are my tips:

1. Don’t try to understand everything all at once. Try out one idea or ‘focal point’ at a time. Too much thinking can overload your mind, make you rigid and jerky and prevent you from doing any one thing well.

2. Don’t try to ‘get it right’. There is no right and wrong, only different actions that cause your body to interact differently with the water. Try a bit more or a bit less … a bit narrower or a bit wider … how does that feel? Are you moving through the water more easily? Which way is quietest? …most comfortable? Experiment with your drills and after a while your body will KNOW what is optimal.

3. Get some feedback. What you THINK you are doing is often only vaguely connected with what you are ACTUALLY doing. Video is king. Underwater video is Emperor! Get a trustworthy friend to check if your arms are staying on their tracks and BELIEVE what they say!

4. Put it back together again. When a drill is feeling good, do some whole stroke swimming and see if you can carry the same sensation across. Is your body as relaxed or are you starting to fight the water? What level of quality are you working at?

5. Practise with other TI swimmers. Whether you are at a group TI session swimming alongside Terry Laughlin in a lake or just sharing a lane with a fishlike freestyle there are so many benefits. It is just like yoga, Mountain Biking or enjoying a cold beer – best when shared with others who are on the same page!

6. Hire a coach. We are passionate about TI. We like to share our passion with people like YOU. We live to see swimmers take BIG STEPS forward with their swimming.

See you at the pool,

Dunstan

PS You can contact me via the Australian TI Site

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Result!

CoachDunstan — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Today I got this email from a customer who did a workshop back in September.

"Hi Dunstan,

Just wanted to let you know I swam in the 1km North Bondi Ocean Classic yesterday and came 36 out 718 and won my age category by 30 seconds. I can’t tell you how delighted I am. I did not do TI to swim fast but to swim smoothly and strongly and yesterday showed just how amazing TI and some dedicated training really is.

Thanks a bunch for your great work."

He was right up there amongst the big hitters and looked smooth and powerful at last night’s refresher session! I checked back to his video footage from the start and end of his WS. He made a big improvement

throughout the course AND he has moved on since. I asked him how he

did it…

"I will send what I did after the course later today, eg training, diet etc. I used TI as a catalyst to make quantum changes in my life and swimming is at the heart of what I did."

As you can imagine, I’m excited to read all about it!

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What do you want?

CoachDunstan — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +0000

This weekend we have our monthly workshop in Sydney.

Our aim for the workshop is to help each of the participants to achieve their goals. At the start of a workshop I ask each participant to introduce themselves and say what they want form the course. Yesterday there were with some strong common threads running through the 12 individual workshop aims.

They were all variations on:

When I leave this workshop I would like to swim ‘better’.

With ‘better’ my summary for:

easier
more efficiently
faster
with less effort
with more enjoyment
more skillfully
with more understanding

It is Sunday morning here. At 5:30 this evening 12 swimmers will leave the pool in North Sydney. My heartfelt wish is that each person will have experienced great swimming and that each person has the tools, understanding and motivation to begin working towards their swimming milestones.

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